Unexpected Quest
by Tw1 Spark1e
Summary: Book 1 of The Alicorn trilogy. When a group of unicorn stallions show up at the young Smarty Heart's door, they bring the young alicorn along on a quest that'll test Smarty's wit and his role as the 'thief' in the clan to save the lost kingdom of Mare-lin.


"…we came in?"

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A small flame is ignited by the horn of an elder stallion. The alicorn prince named Smarty Heart who saved the land of Equestria from the hands of Maleficia. The small flame goes right on a candle and Smarty disperses of the rest of the flame so it wouldn't turn into something dangerous. Smarty then uses his magic to dip a quill into a bottle of ink, take it out and then begin writing on a paper.

"My dearest sweetheart Twilight and my children and grandchildren…

As we are getting old as any other mare and stallion, I have come to the point where there is one story from my past to tell you how I became the heroic alicorn I am, before I became a prince to you and before I met you. It is a long story, but I feel like I should tell you. This is a little backstory on the place I went to that made me a hero to those ponies.

It was a small mountain kingdom near the north border of Equestria beyond the frozen north, close to the border of the Griffin Empire. The kingdom was known as Mare-lin which you probably heard of from the tales of lost cities soon after.

The kingdom was started off the great king of Mare-lin whom was named "King Golden Shine". He was as tall as Princess Celestia as the legends would say. But he was not at all like King Sombra, he loved gold and had an entire kingdom to watch over. He would stay in his castle all day and ask for his miners and forgers down below to find him gold of all assortments they could make. Everypony in the kingdom loved the king when he spared some of the gold he got to them and was highly looked upon. A miner soon gave him a gift of an artifact that had been very rare under the mountain.

This was not an ordinary artifact. It was said that whoever had this… would be as wealthy and loyal to those in the kingdom and it was called the "Stone of the Many". King Golden Shine even made allies with Princess Celestia who seemed a bit worried about him taking his greed too far. She tried to warn him not to get more greed for the gold because it can lead to destructive consequences, but Golden Shine declined and dismissed quietly of her warning to him.

After the two years past, King Golden Shine continued to have more gold forged for him in a large storage room that would be worth that of a thousand years of life. His greed started to overcome him and his son, Prince Silver Stone started to worry and had the feeling that something was coming to his father, the king.

That all changed one day when Golden Shine had a city-sized amount of golden trinkets and worth inside the room of storage, but Golden Shine wanted more and was about to ask the miners for more gold to find… until he heard the sound of a roar.

A dragon had come for his treasure and was going to take it, even if it meant trying to destroy everything around the king.

The son called upon the pegasus guards and knights to defend the mountain castle and the city, but it was to no use as the dragon destroyed everything in the city. The dragon knocked down every defense and left the city in flames for the citizens to burn. The castle soon tried to run the creature down, but it was no use. The dragon infiltrated the castle and found the king's treasure. It was said that at the last minute, Golden Shine took his artifact out from the top of his throne to escape with it. The dragon just knocked the artifact into the gold that was flying around and had the king burnt to ashes.

Silver Stone, the son of the king and many others were left alive and escaped. But none of Princess Celestia's guards nor her came to help that day as he remembered when the Princess told Golden Shine about the consequences greed can bring, even the most dangerous. And this was the most dangerous dragon in all of Equestria. The dragon's name… was Skydra.

The unicorns and pegasi of Mare-lin began to wander away from their kingdom lost and homeless, claiming that one day they'll take back their homeland from Skydra himself. But it wasn't until 40 years ago when they came to my doorstep.

I have met Silver Stone myself and he has lived possibly longer than I have which probably does lead me to believe that his kind in the north lived longer. But my story is quite a journey to hear. It all started when-"

The sound of a knocking door behind the elder Smarty was heard and he turned to the door, he then looked down and began thinking. Was it Twilight at his door wanting to come talk to him? Thinking that it was possibly his princess, he looks back up and says "Come in."

An adult unicorn comes inside and Smarty could recognize the flame coloured mane on the unicorn. It was his student Sunset Shimmer. A smile came upon the purple alicorn as he put the quill back into the ink bottle and turned to her. "Sunset Shimmer, I wasn't expecting you my student. How can I help you?" Smarty said, looking weary from writing all night.

"I'm really sorry to bother you Prince Smarty Heart, but I came to ask what you are up to. Wait… let me guess, you're going to tell Twilight all about your brave stories just like Daring Do!" Sunset said.

Smarty just chuckled and said "Why yes, Sunset. I'm finally going to tell the story to my wife and my two children with my grandchildren. Boy, how Starlight and Dream Charmer have aged."

Sunset went over to Smarty's shelf and looked at the golden goblet from his journey and said "No wonder you have this in your room. It must have been quite a fight."

Smarty used his magic to levitate the goblet back onto the shelf and say "It was indeed a busy fight, but as you can see Sunset Shimmer, I have to take a bit of rest. But please do continue to study the magic of friendship. I know you can do it."

"Thanks Prince Smarty! You and Princess Twilight are the best!" Sunset said, giving him a friendly hug. He shares the hug with her and then let go. Sunset then walks out of Prince Smarty's room and shuts the door behind her. Smarty then turns to the window and uses his magic to open the window to let the air inside.

The window goes open and Smarty puts his head outside the window and takes a deep breath, letting it out. A leaf went flying by and Smarty begins to reflect on the memories of his journey that led him to becoming a hero and an adventurer for that moment.

This would be the story of how the young Smarty Heart and Prince Silver Stone and his stallions met and went on a long journey to save the lost kingdom from Skydra himself.

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**A/N: Well, it's the prequel to the "Smarty Heart" series. For this is the "Alicorn" Trilogy. And if you're wondering why I put "we came in?" at the beginning of the prologue, look at the epilogue of Fire Phoenix, it'll say "Isn't this where..." therefore this story is a cycle.**

_As usual, I don't own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!_


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